Fascinated
by Rabirhek
Summary: Spoilers for Episode 6x16, Coda. Sometimes, they forget to be astonished. But in the end, he will always be fascinating to them.


_**A/N: Episode 6x16, Coda, has not aired yet**. **The spoilers allude to the preview**. Other allusions to the case are results of my predisposition to think that it ends well. Enjoy._

* * *

Sometimes, they forget to be amazed.

What he does is so natural, so at ease, that they're captivated by him. They don't question how he does what he does. They don't think about asking him to explain. He is a magician; they know that. And sometimes, they forget to be astonished.

But these last few days, Reid has fascinated them.

And he is, still, clueless about it.

That fascinates them even more.

And it makes them think.

/

His head resting at the back of the leather seat, Morgan watches the kid through half-closed eyes. The electrical music pounding in the earphones somehow eases back into the background of his thoughts, and that only happens when Derek allows it, because the music is his escape. His sacred ground where no scream of a woman, no cry of a child, no sobbing of a father can be heard.

But this time, he lets the music fade back, and thinks of Reid.

How many times has the kid blown his mind ever since they've met?

"_SSA Derek Morgan, meet Trainee Doctor Spencer Reid,"_ Gideon had said all those years ago, on a wet October morning outside the FBI Academy. A tall, lanky kid supporting a pair of hideous glasses, a yellow-spotted green shirt and a brown messenger bag had given him an awkward wave in way of salutation. Derek had nodded at the oddball and looked around to see the much-praised Doctor Reid.

He snorts when he remembers what Reid had looked like all those years ago. Now, at least he has a style. A style with no name, but nevertheless, he has learned enough commonsense to make better choices about his shirts.

Much has changed about Reid since then. He has lived, Morgan thinks. He has seen. He had been a bizarrely functioning combination of a troubled life and an immeasurable amount of facts. There hadn't been much knowledge, Morgan thinks. Now… Reid knows. Experience. Closure. Maturity. Morgan has witnessed the kid becoming a man.

But after almost ten years, one thing remains exactly the same.

After all these years, Reid can still make their jaws drop.

Genius, they call him. But as the plane glides towards the sunset, Morgan realizes, the word isn't enough anymore.

It is Reid.

With a smile, his shifts in position, closes his eyes, and allows the music to claim its rightful place.

/

As he gratefully accepts a cup of tea from Prentiss, Hotch glances out at the orange sky, and wishes, with all his heart, that every case would end so well.

He has seen too much to truly hope for such a thing. But contrary to what some might think, he still wishes for a lot of things.

His eyes turn inside the plane and survey the members of his team. They seem relaxed. There are no cast-off shadows lingering in the darkness under their eyes; because their sleepless nights have paid off. The mother and father of an autistic child are safe. The UnSub, successfully caught. Once again, Hotch is proud of his team.

But most of all, he's proud of Reid.

He tries to count how many times it has been Reid's genius that has solved a case. It proves difficult.

"What're you thinking?"

He raises his eyebrows at Dave. He must have been thinking quite hard for Rossi to call him out on it.

"Would you believe if I said I'm counting how many cases Reid has solved?"

"I'd say I would," Rossi replies with a snort.

With a crooked smile, Hotch's gaze travels to Reid. "It's an incredible thing; his mind."

"That, it is," Dave agrees.

"But it's more incredible to watch him crack a case," Hotch elaborates. _Incredible_ is the word. If it hadn't been for Reid, there is no doubt in Hotch's mind that they'd have been too late to save the child's parents. Who else could have deciphered what the child had been trying to tell them? Watching Reid with Sammy had all but added to Hotch's respect and appreciation for the younger agent.

"Annoying?" Dave asks, one eyebrow raised suggestively, but for some reason, it surprises Hotch.

"Annoying? No," he answers. To be annoyed by Reid, one needs to have a claim at intellect as high as Reid's. Hotch is, thankfully, not delusional to think that. A second later, he frowns. "Why; does he annoy you?"

He knows that Dave has a not-so-subtle arrogance about him; it's a part of his character rather than a by-product of his ego. But Hotch wonders, if only for a tiny second, whether that arrogance has grown enough to make him measure himself up to Reid.

"Annoy me? Hell, no," Rossi replies with a frown of his own. He takes a sip from his coffee and reopens the book in his lap. "Although I have to say, I wouldn't want to meet his peers in collage. Imagine having to compete with Reid." He chuckles quietly and goes back to reading.

With a smile, Hotch looks over at Reid again. This time, the younger agent catches his glance. Hotch does nothing but hold his smile. It proves easy as Reid slowly begins to look puzzled.

Finally, Hotch relieves Reid of his stare, and picks up a pillow to cushion it under his head. He thinks with amusement, as he lies down, that for the minority of geniuses who could measure themselves up to Reid, his complete lack of egoism and utter cluelessness would only serve to irritate them more.

That, he knows, is why Reid is one of a kind.

The world needs more people like Reid. But there aren't many, and Hotch is grateful to have him.

He feels sorry for all the other law enforcement teams who do not have a Reid of their own. He falls asleep with a smirk on his lips.

/

"Hey there."

"Hey," Reid replies as Prentiss lowers herself down on the seat across him. She pushes a cup of herbal tea towards Reid, and takes out a bar of chocolate from her jacket pocket.

"Thanks a lot," Reid says, sounding slightly surprised as he pulls the cup towards himself and takes a sip. Prentiss unwraps the chocolate bar and takes a bite.

"Mmm. Not gonna offer you this one," she says teasingly as she chews on her treat. Reid chuckles silently.

There's an easy silence between them as Prentiss devours her chocolate. In fact, without even noticing, she's profiling Reid. She's noticing that he's strangely unoccupied. She's noticing that he looks thoughtful. She's noticing that probably no one has told him yet what she's about to say.

"Hey," she calls to him with a nod. Reid looks up with questioning eyes.

"You were incredible with this case."

Reid smiles a bit. "Was I?"

Prentiss's eyebrows shut up high at Reid's tone: there's a bit of curiosity there, a bit of self-doubt; acknowledgement, and foreboding.

"Are you kidding – haven't you seen the look on the Sheriff's face when you deciphered the symbols?"

This time, Reid chuckles aloud. "Yeah, it was pretty funny." He pauses for a moment, and Prentiss pleasantly observes playful twinkles in his eyes. "You were _all_ looking pretty funny, actually," he adds teasingly. "Especially Morgan – I thought his jaw would drop and hit the floor."

They laugh their heads off.

Reid never opens up what was beneath his initial question. Prentiss never asks. She loves a lot of things about Reid, but in the end, there aren't many people that she loves for being themselves.

She loves Reid for being Reid.

And she is sure that they have the only Reid in the world.

It is an incredibly satisfying feeling.

The next day, or the next week, they will all have forgotten about being astonished with Reid. They will be irritated when he sprouts off irrelevant facts; but if he doesn't, they'll miss it. Prentiss knows better than to be surprised when Reid puts together more of her star-puzzles. Morgan will not even notice it when a piece of Reid's knowledge shapes the entire profile. Rossi will remind him again that he should keep his jokes at the intellectual level of the majority. Hotch will get impatient when Reid rambles while working on a case, but will always pat him on the shoulder for his success.

At the end of the day, they all know how lucky they are to have Reid.

At the end of the day, Reid will always be fascinating.


End file.
